Giving Compass' Take:

• As the homelessness crisis in Seattle continues to get scrutinized, an app called Find It, Fix It is leading to the displacement of many people in poverty, turning a bad situation worse.

• Recent debate over a "head tax" in Seattle that would have earmarked money to address the homeless problem in the city led to political stagnation — will the city be able to get its act together? And how can we use technology to assist the homeless rather than drive them away?

• One "quick fix" that has been a subject of controversy is offering homeless people free bus tickets out of town.

Surrounded by the vibrant, emerald trees that give the city its nickname, Seattle’s Ravenna Woods seem like the perfect place for homeless people to build shelter without disrupting metropolitan life. If not for a large, homemade banner at the entrance of the encampment that read, “Do Homeless Lives Matter?” you might not even have noticed they were there. Earlier this year, I visited the Ravenna Woods encampment, both to protest its removal and to interview homeless people about their experiences there.

But someone did notice eventually, initiating months of cat-and-mouse between the City of Seattle and the unsheltered community living here. Residents of the camp received a notice of removal from the city in December 2017, swiftly diminishing the community. The city would spend over $10 million on this and similar homeless sweeps in 2017 alone.

Encampments like the one in Ravenna Woods are reported to the city regularly. The City of Seattle even offers an app to make the process easier. The Find It, Fix It app was originally designed to allow community members to report potholes, dumping, signal issues, and other neighborhood problems. But the app has warped into a powerful instrument for high-tech community patrolling, enabling individuals to report abandoned vehicles and homeless encampments.

Read the full article on the app that leads to homeless policing by Dae Shik Kim Hawkins at The Atlantic.